Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Canyon Trip

Monday, 14 November, 2011

In mid-October the weather was so nice that we decided to take an
overnight trip up the Fraser Canyon to Cache Creek and back through
Logan Lake and the Nicola Valley. Here's a link to a map of our route

We travelled along the north side of the river to Hope, continued north
on Hwy 97 (yellow) to Cache Creek, and returned through Logan Lake
(grey) to Merritt, then Hwy 5 (green) back to Hope.
Since the road hugs the Fraser River, the scenery is spectacular, both along the river ...

and through the rocky crags of the canyon. This is just one of several tunnels that the road runs through.

Trains
run constantly along each side of the river. It used to be that the
Canadian Pacific had its track on one side and Canadian Northern on the
other. Nowadays they share the tracks and all eastbound trains run on
one, all westbound on the other. No doubt it's both safer and more
efficient.

I love how the blue of the containers in this last shot echoes the blue of the water.

Looking up at the mountains is as impressive as looking down at the river.

Fall colours had started to infuse the landscape,

some requiring a close inspection.

Surprise, surprise... it's a rose!

By sunset we were almost at our destination.

We had hoped to stay in Ashcroft, which is a pretty little place, but
has suffered the fate of many small interior towns as people leave for
lack of work. Cache Creek has more industry, including a dump for much
of Vancouver's garbage, but is ugly. However, it does have motels.

The following day we began our way back through the Nicola Valley. This
is a more settled, less rugged landscape than the Fraser Canyon. There
are signs of abandonment here too, picturesque and a little sad.

Halfway
home we took a turn-off from the highway to visit the Quintette
Tunnels. This little-known miracle of engineering provided a route for
the Kettle Valley Railway from the Interior to the Coast. The architect
of this feat had himself lowered in a basket into the chasm cut by the
Coquihalla River in order to plot how the track could negotiate the
river, which at this point winds back and forth through massive rocks.
He achieved his goal by linking three tunnels and two bridges. The site
is now a provincial park and the former railbed is a walking trail. It
is one of my favourite places to take overseas visitors to absorb some
of the wild beauty of this part of the world. The tunnels are quite dark
and it's advisable to have a flashlight to negotiate through them, but
the views from the bridges in between are awe-inspiring.

1 comment:

Sarah Jane
said...

Somehow I missed this post earlier. Are the shots from the trip taken
with the new camera? There are some wonderful ones. You definitely have
an eye for landscape. My favs are the misty mountain that leads this
post, the cottages and trees reflected in the lake and the blue railway
cars and landscape. I also was really impressed by how colour of the
carriages echos the lake. Fantastic shot!

About Me

I live in a 100-year-old house in Vancouver. On my Grand Folly blog I am recording the restoration of the house and the development of my garden.
Before moving here, we had a mixed farm on 9 acres outside the city. "A Year at Killara Farm", published by Harbour Publishing is my memoir of the garden I made there. It also contains recipes from my kitchen.
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I also have a travel blog, titled 2BusTickets. We usually manage to travel a couple of times a year. We take one carry-on bag each, and get around by local bus or train, or occasionally in a rented car. We prefer small independently-owned hotels or apartments that reflect the character of the country we're visiting.
We also travel within Canada, usually on short road trips from Vancouver and occasionally in other parts of this vast country.